In one state, the CM reassures that a mosque, demolished on High Court order will be rebuilt, ‘to diffuse tension’.

In another, the CM pleads not to hoist the Indian flag for fear of retaliation by anti-nationals.

Anti-socials and antinational are allowed to destroy and rampage at will. Violence and hooliganism does succeed in drawing attention. It makes good TRP for the media. It’s a successful strategy for blackmailing the society. One may even have the rights activists on one’s side.

That is all the more true if one happens to be a minority. After all there is something called ‘vote-bank’. Who in the sane mind will disregard that?

The mass is ignorant or indifferent as long as their own skin is saved. Administration and security forces are handicapped and remain silent spectators.

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit met Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari on Friday morning to defuse tension brewing over the demolition of a mosque in South Delhi. The chief minister had an hour-long conversation with the Imam where she assured that the mosque will be rebuilt in the same area.

“She came here to convey the message of the Union Home Minister and the Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy to state that mosque will be rebuilt. But until the mosque is built, our fight shall continue. Mosques are the identity of Muslims and we cannot tolerate repression on that count,” Bukhari said while addressing a gathering of over 10,000 people at the Jama Masjid.

Breaking from the tradition, the Imam did not lead the prayers at the historical mosque and monument on Friday and instead went to pray at the sites where the mosque was demolished along with several other Muslim clerics and political leaders including RJD MLA from Chandni Chowk Shoaib Iqbal and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. The SP leader blasted the Congress Government’s wrong policies which have failed to alleviate the concerns of the minority community despite years of rule and promises.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) demolished the mosque in south-east Delhi’s Jangpura-B Block area at around 6am amidst heavy police presence on Wednesday. The DDA said the site was illegally encroached and slums and the mosque were built on it. On October 28, 2010, the Delhi High Court ordered the demolition of the structure within four weeks and warned that any further delay would be considered contempt of court. The demolition triggered rioting in the city.

Srinagar: In the run up to Republic Day, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah renewed his appeal to the BJP of not hoisting the Tricolour in Srinagar.

Meanwhile, BJP has started its ‘ekta yatra’ and has said that it is going to hoist a flag at Lal Chowk on January 26.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister is apprehensive that it will disturb peace in the valley.

When asked if it will create law and order problem in the valley, Omar said, “I don’t know…it could, it may not.”

“But do we really want to take that chance?” questions Omar.

“I mean, I’ve heard that they have equated this thing with flag burning…that if the flag can be burnt at Lal Chowk, why can’t it be hoisted.. I mean, how can they possibly equate their standing with the standing of those who are not in any way nationalist in their outlook,” he explains.

Appealing BJP to refrain from hoisting the flag, Omar said, “As far as I am concerned, I am making an earnest appeal to them not to do anything that could cause us a setback.. I think its a reasonable appeal and more so due to the fact that since 1992, BJP has not felt the need to raise the flag in Lal Chowk, why now?”

He even questioned BJP’s intent by saying, “Why after all these years? In the years when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, how come they never felt the need then? Then they were talking about J&K under the umbrella of humanity -‘Insaniyat’…why today all of a sudden do they feel the need to take this step?”

“I’m hoping that sense will prevail and I hope that the national leadership understands that anything that could possibly evoke trouble in Kashmir cannot possibly be in the national interest,” he said.

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Delhi is now one of the best cities in the world, declared Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit. She claimed that the national capital is now rated among the best cities in the world. One does not get the idea as to what criteria she had used for her analysis but let us look at some recent reports of civic facilities available to Delhiites..

Just a few months ago, Ms. Dikshit had claimed that Delhi is the safest city in India and added that law and order situation had improved in the national capital quite significantly in the last one year.

There are others who beg to differ and it is not the public alone. According to, no less a person than the Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal himself, crime is rising in Delhi. While reporting a decline in heinous crimes such as murder, attempt to murder, robbery, rioting and rape by 2.97 percent as compared to previous year, he did admit that there was a sharp increase in kidnappings, motor vehicle thefts, fatal road accidents and crimes against senior citizens in Delhi in 2009, with the total criminal cases registered increasing by over one percent during the year.

One can understand all the efforts of whitewashing and making Delhi presentable to the international community. One can also claim some success on the fact that the CWG went relatively uneventful in terms of safety issues, though that has been rightly overshadowed by the corruption issues that tarnished the country’s image.

But before making tall claims, one has to realize that it is a long way before the public perception will change and deceptive statements and half truths will not help in accelerating the process.

Molestation of a few girls by some boys triggered the stampede at a government school in north-eastern Delhi, where five girls died on Thursday, some parents alleged on Friday.

Initial reports said rumours about electric shocks had caused the stampede, which left 32 students injured. Two of the injured girls are battling for life at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in the capital.

Some of the girls spoke out on Friday, after which their parents approached the police.

Meena Kumar, a student of std VII, told DNA, “Boys are not supposed to come to the first floor, but on Thursday teachers sent them upstairs without supervision. They pushed us around, pretending that they were falling down.”

Meena said the boys kept saying that the “dark-skinned among us should go downstairs, while the fairer ones should stay back”. Veer Singh, father of a girl studying in std IX, said they had complained to the authorities but no action was taken. “On Thursday, some boys molested the girls, which led to the stampede,” he alleged.

Dr JP Kapoor, senior medical superintendent of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, too, said initial tests didn’t suggest any of the girls had received electric shocks. The final reports will be out by Monday, he said.

“Most of the injured students had head and abdomen injuries, which were caused by the stampede. Many of the children were crushed and got suffocated. Two girls are in a serious condition,” he said.

SS Yadav, chief of Delhi’s northeast district police, said: “We are investigating the possibility (of molestation). If evidence suggests so, we will do the needful.”